The Top five times ‘good’ did not triumph over ‘evil’
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By Andrew Jones, 11 Jul 2008 Andrew Jones is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Allan Border, Arsenal, Ian Botham, Liverpool, Rafael Nadal, Randwick, Roger Federer, Wimbledon
This column started as a list of sportspeople united by some feature other than competence. Now it has gone small-c catholic in a silent tribute to next week’s World Youth Day at Randwick Racecourse, which itself rockets to Number One in the list of Top 5 Excuses For Cancellation of Race 4.
In the canon of this broader sporting church, here is my The Top five times ‘good’ did not triumph over ‘evil’.
1. Nadal v. Federer, Wimbledon 2008 (c)
Tennis pundits who suggested this was the greatest tennis match of all time were presumably also upset that the Death Star was vandalised by local youths just when its architectural bravery was becoming apparent (this analogy assumes ‘local’ includes Tatooine). Sure, Nadal can play, was gracious in victory and personally thanked me for motivating him with last week’s remark about frantic Iberian bum-picking, but I am unashamedly a Federer fan and was disappointed he didn’t win. Give me Borg beating McEnroe any day.
2. Australia v. Iran, 1997
If Nadal v. Federer is this week’s captain, it is Kim Hughes to this disaster’s Allan Border. From the high, just days earlier, of Johns and Darren Albert stealing the ARL Grand Final, to the low of the MCG net-snipping fiasco and Iran’s 2 late goals, this was as bad as it gets.
3. Arsenal v Liverpool, final day, 1988-89 season
Tony Adams, George Graham and most of all Michael Thomas. His last-minute goal sucked the mojo out of Liverpool (the 1989-90 title an aberration) and it remains missing to this day.
4. Thomson c. Miller b. Botham, MCG 1982
At one end of the virtue scale, 1982 was the year of Sterling, Kenny, Grothe, Ella and Cronin, plus Neil Hunt and Paul Taylor. At other end it was the year of Ian Botham, Chris Tavare and Geoff Miller. When Tavare fumbled the thick edge from Thommo’s hopeful waft we thought God was punishing him for his tedious batting. However no deity worth his salt would reward Botham’s pies and Miller’s wristband restricted offspin with a second-chance catch broke a 10-year-old’s heart.
5. Italy v. Australia, FIFA World Cup 2006
The only redeeming feature of this match was that I didn’t watch it. Stuck on a plane mid-Pacific, I remember clearly the Aussie pilot’s announcement that it was “Good news! It is still nil-all with only a few minutes to play”. In that zone of vivid thought between waking and sleep, my mind bet everything it owned that an azure-shirted match-fixer would take a dive in the area. And so, goddammit, it proved.
In addition to being a sports nuffy, Andrew Jones is a co-founder of local business ratings website Customer Underground - check it out at customerunderground.com.
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Savvas Tzionis said | July 11th 2008 @ 7:34am | Report comment
A great aidea for an article…pity you chose those examples…..
If you want true ‘evil’ winning over ‘good’ here are some great examples.
- Hawthorn and West Coast defeating Geelong in 1989 and 1992 Grand Finals
- McEnroe defeating ANYBODY….. one of the worst sportsman ever
- And the daddy of them all…the 1982 World Cup where the French and the Brazilians were defeated by the Italians and the Germans
Rory said | July 11th 2008 @ 10:49am | Report comment
My five:
Jimmy Connors beats Ken Rosewall 1974 Wimbledon final – last chance for ‘Muscles’ to win an all-England title goes begging to the brash American, 20 years after he played his first Wimbledon final.
Eastern Suburbs beat St. George 1975 Grand Final 38-0 – Langlands finishes up his career as a disaster in white boots.
Kingston Town beaten into 2nd 1982 Melbourne Cup – what a let down. Bit like Rosewall – a champ without the big prize.
Germany beat Holland 1990 World Cup – Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkard, Koeman. How did that team get knocked out in the second round if evil wasn’t playing a part?
Australia beaten by Italy last world cup – goes without saying.
Harry said | July 11th 2008 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
Here is my list – stand by for a surprise at 5! :
1) The Bulldogs win the Rugby League premiership after that Coffs Harbour incident and subsequent graceless behaviour in 2004.
2) Greg Norman’ (entirley self inflicted) collapse at the US Masters in 96, to that boring Pom Nick Faldo. You could add in all those other disasters – US Open 84, masters 87, PGA 86 to name a few, but that was one too far.
3) Collingwood’s failures in the 70′s and early 80′s and then Geelong’s losses in 89 and 92 denied a fair turn for all.
4) Australia’s losses on the 81 grand slam tour to Wales, Scotaland and England were heart-breaking for me. 2 World cups and 25 years domination of the 4 home unions since (apart from England at world cups in 95, 03 and 07) have eased the pain though.
5) The Kiwi’s 07 RWC QF elimination – yes I enjoyed the schadenfraude as much as any non-kiwi, but they truly had been a great team in 05 and 06 in particular (hubris was setting in by 07) and did deserve at least a shot at the title of world champions.
Central North said | July 11th 2008 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
What about Goran Ivanisevic beating Pat Rafter at Wimbledon in 2001?? 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 in about three hours of heart wrenching tennis.. Say what you like that was Pat’s year and the big bad Croat – who became the first wild card to ever win Wimbledon – comes and steals it from right under his nose! Pat was never the same again..
The ultimate in Evil over Good!
Savvas Tzionis said | July 11th 2008 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
Thats right, Goran Ivanisevic who had NEVER won a Grand Slam was the EVIL one…Pat who already had 2 Grand Slams was the Good one.
Wake up
Central North said | July 11th 2008 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Sorry, what I said was light hearted in intent and from an unabashed Rafter fan’s perspective. I was certainly not intended to be recieved in any other way..
Perhaps I need to clarify. Rafter won at Flushing Meadows in 97 & 98 but had never done that well at Wimbledon. He made the Semis for the first time in 99, where he lost to Agassi, and the Final in 2000, where he lost to Sampras. It seemed he was never going to achieve that particular long held aim.
2001 he played some beautiful tennis and was the red hot favourite going into the final – and, at least in mine and many of my friends eyes, the sentimental one as well. Given he retired in 2002 it turned out to be his last real shot, which for many who followed his career, was a great disappointment.
Not saying Goran was undeserving – anyone who wtahced the match would no doubt agree that nothing could be further from the truth. Just saying that in my eyes, he was the beaten “good” guy..
But that’s just my opinion.
Andrew Jones said | July 11th 2008 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Fantastic responses troops – please keep them coming. A few reactions so far:
1. as a Swans fan Good has beaten Evil more often than not in recent years, so can’t complain. However agree that no-one likes to see Hawthorn and Collingwood win – perhaps the cheering of their fans should be construed as a cry for help!
2. Kingston Town v Gurner’s Lane is a great call. I actually thought of it during the week then forgot it when I was writing the column. It would displace Liverpool and Michael Thomas at #3. (Melbournites would know that Gurner’s Lane was named after the alley behind the Australian Club there; the horse was owned by a syndicate of club members and the win is commemorated with a display in the foyer of the club to this day)
3. Love Goran, but was unashamedly going for Our Pat that day
4. Good being beaten by Evil in rugby league for me as a kid was the constant failure of Western Suburbs and the signing of all their marquee players (Lamb, Boyd, Ribot etc) by other clubs, plus the very same T Lamb knocking out Ellery Hanley in the 1988 Grand Final. However, much like some Geelong fans I know, the Wests Tigers’ victory has put my Rugby League karma in the black forever. (As to the Bulldogs, they too lost me forever in 2004, although the docking of 37 points did make me chuckle.)
5. My top Rugby heartbreak would be Steve Tuynman’s disallowed try in the Second Test in 1986; the ABs storming back in 1988 to a 14-all draw would also go close. The Farr-Jones, Kearns and Eales eras fortunately provided so many moments where Evil was defeated by Good.
6. Love the 1982 World Cup reference – the list of Top 5 All-Time Azure-Shirted Match-fixers would naturally be captained by Paolo Rossi
Rory said | July 11th 2008 @ 1:24pm | Report comment
Ivanisovic got there on a huge serve/volley game, the type that used to rule on grass but has all but disappeared. He might have been the last of the breed. Rafter was a bit unlucky to meet him when he was on fire for the last time.
Andrew Jones said | July 11th 2008 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
Don’t forget Rafter also had Sampras a set down and netted a relatively straightforward (or him) forehand volley with Sampras defending break point in the second set. Had he got that one over the net, he could have beaten Pistol Pete as well. Shame he didn’t!
Jerry said | July 11th 2008 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
From an NZ rugby fan’s perspective the great Auckland teams of the late 80s and early 90s provided many instances of evil triumphing. I remember a few games where they got a good lead and towards the end of the game infringed with impunity knowing the team they were playing needed to score a try rather than kick a penalty (this was before the introduction of the sin bin for repeat infringing). The penalty try Auckland received against Otago (though probably deserved) that effectively gave them them the title in (I think) 1989 or 1990 or so only added to the evil triumph. Ironically they ended up losing to Waikato in the first NPC semi-final series in part due to some blatant cheating from Graham Purvis.
Steve Walsh’s one sided reffing that allowed Ben Blair to score a late try against a 14 man Wellington team a few years back to allow Canterbury to retain the shield also qualifies.